TIGER WOODS’ ex-wife ELIN NORDEGREN has finally spoken out about the breakdown of their marriage – revealing she felt “embarrassed” that she “never suspected” her husband was cheating on her.
The couple split last year (09) after news of the sportsman’s numerous infidelities hit the headlines, and their divorce was finalised this week (begs23Aug10).
Nordegren went into hiding when Woods’ private life was thrust into the spotlight, but she has finally opened up about her ordeal in an interview with America’s People magazine.
The Swedish beauty insists she felt “disbelief and shock” when she first found out about her former partner’s cheating, and although they attempted to work on their relationship after the revelations, she admits they had to separate because their marriage would not work “without trust and love”.
She says, “I’m so embarrassed that I never suspected – not a one (sic). For the past three and a half years, when all this was going on, I was home a lot more with pregnancies, then the children… I felt stupid as more things were revealed – how could I not have known anything? The word ‘betrayal’ isn’t strong enough. I felt embarrassed for having been so deceived. I felt betrayed by many people around me…
“I have been through the stages of disbelief and shock, to anger and ultimately grief over the loss of the family I so badly wanted for my children… I’ve been through hell. It’s hard to think you have this life, and then all of a sudden – was it a lie? You’re struggling because it wasn’t real.”
Nordegren also dismissed the rumours of a violent altercation between the former couple at their Florida home last year (09) shortly before the cheating scandal broke, which ended in Woods crashing his car into a tree on a neighbour’s lawn.
The 30 year old insists allegations she attacked the sportsman with a golf club simply aren’t true, adding, “There was never any violence inside or outside our home. The speculation that I would have used a golf club to hit him is just truly ridiculous.”
Nordegren, who is rumoured to have received a massive multi-million dollar divorce settlement from the golf champion, insists she doesn’t care about the payout she received at the end of their marriage because “money can’t buy happiness or put my family back together.”
But she now feels hopeful for the future – she is spending time with the former couple’s two children, Sam, three, and Charlie, 19 months, and is focusing on a college course in psychology.
She says, “My immediate plan is for the kids and me to continue to adjust to our new situation. I am going to keep taking classes, but my main focus is to try to give myself time to heal… I am now going to do my very best to show (the children) that alone and happy is better than being in a relationship where there is no trust.”
